The more I play the less I like combat

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vanin

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This is gonna be a one-off from me, I don't intend to look at this forum anymore after this post just like I am now uninstalling this game.

As background I have logged about 50 hours, mainly MP, because SP does not respect the player's time and factions aren't balanced, and I honestly don't have the patience for it right now. I don't know how many hours I have put into M&B or Warband over the years but it must be lots, thousands, but I never prioritised MP before. So these are words from a frustrated MP-scrub wanting to vent in the hopes that something can let me salvage the money I spent on this abysmal game. Playing Bannerlord MP now I do average-to-OK with usually a positive K/D ratio in TDM (no other modes available) but I think that is because the only one bothering with MP are newbies who bought Bannerlord making the fatal mistake thinking it is a good game.

MP combat seems to revolve around either 1: being ranged, 2: grabbing the biggest, baddest 2-hander possible and swinging as wildly you can while walking as erratically as imaginable to dodge arrows, with some block-feints mixed in for confusion, and 3: riding a horse. 2-handers must net the vast majority of kills in any match because it is generally 1-hit-to-kill and because blocking and parrying are so broken takes very little skill. Others have explained much better what is wrong with it but the game feels entirely random as to whether your strike is fast or slow or if you manage to parry or not.

The worst of all is that if you successfully parry or block - the game should be popping balloons to celebrate your skill at this point - your recovery animation is slower than that of the attacker, aka the attacker will have a longer time window to attack again than you do to counter-attack or parry again. The attacker gets hecking rewarded for being parried or blocked. This is, beyond any human reason, so stupid. I am trying to be polite here. It is so gosh-darn stupid. You get actively punished for attempting to use the tools the game gives you to play skillfully. It is unreasonably stupid.

What does this lead to? 2-hander spam which further degenerates play as the only viable tactic become strafing and using menavlions/romphaias with feint spam. This in turn causes archer spam because besides one-upping the other side's 2-hander spam you have archers. Cavalry is thrown into the mix like some raisins nobody asked for, being this omni-present oppressive force that can turn up out of thin air as they emit nearly no noise and will, like 2-handed infantry, also one-hit you but somehow less frequently as spears and lances almost always glance. Soon there is no space for any interesting play, any clever usage of the game's mechanics and no fun. If it wasn't for much of the world still sitting in quarantine MP would be at 0 actives.

I have another laundry list of issues but not as egregious but here goes:
* Armor is worthless in a world were everyone can score 200 damage hits with ease. Adding to the above tactic is to be as glass-canonny as possible because armored classes are not good enough return on investment if you are an average player. Hence berserker and menavlion spam that can easily kill any other player regardless of skill-level.
* What is it with swings feeling so random? Sometimes it's fast sometimes it's slow, with the same weapon in the same situation.
* Thrusting is not a valid attack option and nobody seriously uses thrusting weapons as a result. If you can get a glaive or menavlion on a horse it is always superior to a lance.
* Damage output is very weird. Sometimes I can hit a dude in the face with a bardiche for 70 dmg and next I take a javelin to the knee and literally keel over.
* Siege servers are completely dead/don't exist. I played a little bit at launch and it was kinda fun I guess, but I feel it must be superior to the mindless mayhem TDM has become.
* What's up with all these 360 spins some players pull off with 2-handers? Like it shouldn't be possible and it is done so fast too. Whenever it happens it looks like a glitch rather than a valid playstyle.
* Feint-spamming, literally the only thing parry is good for. It forces you to attempt to parry in one direction and then they change it at the turn of a dime and your parry can't wind up fast enough so you get hit immediately. God bless you if you attempt to use their feint to your advantage because you will need some blessin' when they hit you faster than you hit them. It looks stupid in motion but is clearly effective because many are doing it. If it is faster to break your swing or parry with a parry or swing than to simply cancel them and do one again then something is not right.
* Faction balance is so hopeless that whenever Khuzait is rotated into play the other faction gets swamped with players and the brave few on Khuzait either 1: don't know what they are in for, 2: are masochists or 3: like being cavalry archers. Khuzait has so few redeeming qualities but this is mainly due to 2-handers being king and them having 0. Khuzait can win but it is just so unlikely to happen. Next I would say Aserai and Sturgia are the weakest factions which is weird because they both look OK on paper but again it is likely because they have shorter 2-handers on cheap classes than Empire and Vlandia (and Battania to a lesser degree) do. Vlandia and Empire are king because of menavlions and that other thing Vlandia gets, Battania is a close 3rd. Faction balance is mainly out of whack because of the issues listed already, and makes for some really hopeless MP sessions at times and also have an adverse effect on SP campaigns.
* Also what was it with that new desert castle TDM map that popped up but caused ctd whenever more than 10 players were on it? How can you launch a new map that causes ctd?

Ok rant over. Have a nice evening everyone.
 
man you need to try spend time play with good players in skirmish mode than u would see that not all things are true that u noticed here about 2handlers and archery and etc
 
TBH I'm pretty sure that 2h spam in TDM would be as present as it is, even with a reliable blocking system. It's just a gamemode thing - you don't need to give that much crap whether you die, so it's better to maximize the offensive capabilities and take down as many enemies as possible before you go down. 2 handers shine in that regard. But I geerally agree with most of the other points. As for the fainting - in warband blocking was responsive enough that you were able to change direction and close the line, if you realized soon enough that enemy was fainting. In bannerlord it's pretty much impossible :sad: This is why very fast weapons with long reach are such a pain in the butt (im thinking rhomphaia). Good job Talewords :*
 
TBH I'm pretty sure that 2h spam in TDM would be as present as it is, even with a reliable blocking system. It's just a gamemode thing - you don't need to give that much crap whether you die, so it's better to maximize the offensive capabilities and take down as many enemies as possible before you go down. 2 handers shine in that regard. But I geerally agree with most of the other points. As for the fainting - in warband blocking was responsive enough that you were able to change direction and close the line, if you realized soon enough that enemy was fainting. In bannerlord it's pretty much impossible :sad: This is why very fast weapons with long reach are such a pain in the butt (im thinking rhomphaia). Good job Talewords :*
TEAMKILL NEEDS TO BE ENABLED
 
TEAMKILL NEEDS TO BE ENABLED
100% agree. And sth like 3 TKs during one game = autokick. It would help both in reducing the amount of attack spam in melee and also make archers less OP (as they would have to be careful not to murder their mates). Right now (in siege) archers can just target a bottleneck such as gate and spam arrows right at the spot when intense fighting starts to take place. It almost guarantees hit and has very high chance of scoring a kill. But with TK turned on they would need to actually aim.
 
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